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Partnerships and many LLCs file partnership income tax returns. As a result of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (“BBA”), the IRS has new audit rules for entities that file partnership income tax returns beginning January 1, 2018. These audit rules significantly change the regime that currently governs partnership tax audits, assessments and collections.

The condensed version of the changes is, in the past when a partnership was audited, the IRS pushed the adjustments through to the partners of the partnership who were partners in the year under audit. The new rules allow the IRS to charge the tax, due to audit adjustments, directly to the partnership and the current partners.

Your first thought may be, why could this be a problem? Well, let’s assume you bought into a partnership in 2017, and shortly thereafter the partnership is audited by the IRS for 2015 and there is an adjustment that causes there to be more taxes paid. Under the new rules you would likely be paying the tax for the partners that were owners in 2015.

To solve this problem, you can make changes to your partnership or LLC member agreement. Partnerships with 100 or fewer partners that meet certain other requirements may be eligible to elect to opt out of these rules. For partnerships or LLCs that qualify for this “opt out”, the partnership agreements could be modified to make the “opt out” mandatory.

Another change with the BBA is the term of “Tax Matters Partner” is eliminated. The new term is “Partnership Representative”. The partnership or LLC agreement could be changed to reflect how the Partnership Representative will be selected, removed or replaced. You may also consider limiting the Partnership Representative’s authority over certain tax matters, such as extending a statute of limitations or settling the dispute.

There is also a new election labeled the “Push Out Election”. As it sounds this allows the partnership or LLC to push out any audit adjustments to prior year partners. This election is not automatic and must be elected within 45 days of receiving the final notice of partnership adjustment. The requirement to make this election can be documented in the partnership or LLC agreement.

The IRS has put us on notice that we can expect to see more partnership and LLC audits than in the past. Consulting your advisors about the issues raised in the BBA will leave you prepared for any audit in which your partnership may be involved.

Many business owners use a calendar year as their company’s tax year. It’s intuitive and aligns with most owners’ personal returns, making it about as simple as anything involving taxes can be. But for some businesses, choosing a fiscal tax year can make more sense.

What’s a fiscal tax year?

A fiscal tax year consists of 12 consecutive months that don’t begin on January 1 or end on December 31 — for example, July 1 through June 30 of the following year. The year doesn’t necessarily need to end on the last day of a month. It might end on the same day each year, such as the last Friday in March.

Flow-through entities (partnerships, S corporations and, typically, limited liability companies) using a fiscal tax year must file their return by the 15th day of the third month following the close of their fiscal year. So, if their fiscal year ends on March 31, they would need to file their return by June 15. (Fiscal-year C corporations generally must file their return by the 15th day of the fourth month following the fiscal year close.)

When a fiscal year makes sense

A key factor to consider is that if you adopt a fiscal tax year you must use the same time period in maintaining your books and reporting income and expenses. For many seasonal businesses, a fiscal year can present a more accurate picture of the company’s performance.

For example, a snowplowing business might make the bulk of its revenue between November and March. Splitting the revenue between December and January to adhere to a calendar year end would make obtaining a solid picture of performance over a single season difficult.

In addition, if many businesses within your industry use a fiscal year end and you want to compare your performance to your peers, you’ll probably achieve a more accurate comparison if you’re using the same fiscal year.

Before deciding to change your fiscal year, be aware that the IRS requires businesses that don’t keep books and have no annual accounting period, as well as most sole proprietorships, to use a calendar year.

It can make a difference

If your company decides to change its tax year, you’ll need to obtain permission from the IRS. The change also will likely create a one-time “short tax year” — a tax year that’s less than 12 months. In this case, your income tax typically will be based on annualized income and expenses. But you might be able to use a relief procedure under Section 443(b)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code to reduce your tax bill.

Although choosing a tax year may seem like a minor administrative matter, it can have an impact on how and when a company pays taxes. We can help you determine whether a calendar or fiscal year makes more sense for your business.

You can only deduct losses from an S corporation, partnership or LLC if you “materially participate” in the business. If you don’t, your losses are generally “passive” and can only be used to offset income from other passive activities. Any excess passive loss is suspended and must be carried forward to future years.

Material participation is determined based on the time you spend in a business activity. For most business owners, the issue rarely arises — you probably spend more than 40 hours working on your enterprise. However, there are situations when the IRS questions participation.

Several tests

To materially participate, you must spend time on an activity on a regular, continuous and substantial basis.

You must also generally meet one of the tests for material participation. For example, a taxpayer must:

Work 500 hours or more during the year in the activity,

Participate in the activity for more than 100 hours during the year, with no one else working more than the taxpayer, or

Materially participate in the activity for any five taxable years during the 10 tax years immediately preceding the taxable year. This can apply to a business owner in the early years of retirement.

There are other situations in which you can qualify for material participation. For example, you can qualify if the business is a personal service activity (such as medicine or law). There are also situations, such as rental businesses, where it is more difficult to claim material participation. In those trades or businesses, you must work more hours and meet additional tests.

Proving your involvement

In some cases, a taxpayer does materially participate, but can’t prove it to the IRS. That’s where good recordkeeping comes in. A good, contemporaneous diary or log can forestall an IRS challenge. Log visits to customers or vendors and trips to sites and banks, as well as time spent doing Internet research. Indicate the time spent. If you’re audited, it will generally occur several years from now. Without good records, you’ll have trouble remembering everything you did.

Passive activity losses are a complicated area of the tax code. Consult with your tax adviser for more information on your situation.